St. Cloud State has reached its second Frozen Four and, not surprisingly, there’s a lot of lingo that this team uses day after day (Photo: Justin K. Aller/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Close, kill and collect.
Next-guy-up mentality.
No-days-off mentality.
Husky Hockey.
All teams develop phrases and jargon that help unify concepts – and locker rooms – but St. Cloud State elevates this to an artform this season.
“We talk about Husky Hockey, just our identity,” said forward Nolan Walker. “I think we’re a very deep group from top to bottom. We like to play in the offensive zone, obviously, but we talk a lot about close, kill and collect. That’s kind of our mentality. We like to go from the back out and I think we defend really hard. I think we’ve been really successful when we’ve been doing that.”
Junior Micah Miller echoed his linemate and clarified that the team’s vocabulary is just as much about showing the world that the 2019-20 season was an anomaly as it is about defining this year’s campaign. Last year, St. Cloud State’s season ended with two losses to Minnesota-Duluth in the NCHC playoffs, a week before the rest of the season ended because of COVID-19.
“Yeah, for sure,” said Miller. “I feel like we’ve gotten so close with this group with the shortened season last year and getting to know the transfer and freshmen this year, and we had such a tight group. It’s just been a no-days-off mentality. Every practice is intense and every guy’s bringing it every day.”
Walker and Miller had played the season with Easton Brodzinski, who suffered a broken femur in St. Cloud’s 4-1 win over Boston College in the Albany Regional title game. Brodzinski led the Huskies with 13 goals, and as much as the team will miss him in Pittsburgh, both Walker and Miller say it’s time for the next guy to step up.
“It’s a next-guy-up mentality,” said Walker. “Obviously, it hurts that he’s out, but Kyler Kupka is going to play with me and Micah and we’ve had some good chemistry so far.”
“Like Walks said, we have such a deep team that it’s just kind of a next-guy-up mentality,” said Miller. “Obviously it sucks to have Brodzy go down like that and that’s how the whole team feels, but we’re kind of motivated to do it for him a little bit and just keep rolling here.”
That sophomore Kyler Kupka is, indeed, the next guy up was news at the team’s press conference during Wednesday’s practice day. “The guys really hid the game plan well,” joked coach Brett Larson.
Larson acknowledged that the concepts that define Husky Hockey aren’t exactly new.
“I think it’s everybody on the same page, everybody playing together,” said Larson. “Some of it may sound cliché, but there are things that we’ve come up with throughout the year that this team has really grown to believe in.”
Things like offense, as evidenced by St. Cloud’s 10-goal output in the Albany Regional.
“We’re good when we’re on the attack,” said Larson. “When we’re on a five-man attack, playing north, playing north through the neutral zone, a strong forecheck, not giving up the puck once we get it, doing what we call the body-blow theory, trying to set the next line up for success.”
The body-blow theory. That’s one that Miller and Walker didn’t mention.
Larson had more on this. “Strong over pucks. Not throw it away. Obviously starts with defending in our end first and defending the right way to put our team on the offense instead of spending too much time in our end.”
More than anything, says Larson, Husky Hockey “is a team concept.”
“Every guy knows that there’s no individual bigger than the team,” says Larson. “They all know that they have to bring what they can, and they know what their role is and they believe in it. I think Husky Hockey to those guys is that when they’re all playing hard, they’re playing free, and they’re getting after it together.”
The Mavericks are 18-0 this season when scoring first and one of only two teams with an unblemished record with the game’s first goal (Photo: Justin K. Aller/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
When Minnesota State gets to its game quickly and when it gets a lead early, look out.
That’s what the Mavericks are hoping to do Thursday when they play St. Cloud State in the first Frozen Four semifinal at PPG Paints Arena.
They’re one of two teams this season with an unblemished record when scoring first. Minnesota State can equal North Dakota’s 19-0 mark if things go to plan against the Huskies.
“We’ve always been a team that worries about the first five minutes and I think it’s going to be the biggest thing for us,” Mavericks junior forward Julian Napravnik said. “Everybody’s probably going to be a little bit nervous to start it off. I think just getting over the first five minutes and playing our game will help us to have a solid game afterward.”
For a group playing its first game in a Frozen Four, taking a lead can go a long way toward calming the nerves. The Mavericks have never been to this point in a season as a Division I program; it’s only the second time for St. Cloud State, and its earlier experience was eight years ago.
Minnesota State was able to overcome a tentative start against Quinnipiac in the NCAA first round but would rather not be in a similar situation against the Huskies.
“The guys are excited. They’re confident in what we do, when we do it,” Mavericks coach Mike Hastings said. “The first five, 10 minutes are going to be really important but they are in every single game. So it’s not going to be any different than what it’s been throughout this season. It’ll be something we address but we address it before every game, trying to get to our game as soon as we can.”
Many of the 18 games in which the Mavericks have scored first turned into comfortable victories. Three had one-goal leads that needed to be protected late.
One went to overtime. On Feb. 19, heavily outshot host Ferris State took the lead late in the second period only to have Minnesota State’s Nathan Smith score to make it 4-4 just before the break. After a goalless third period, Reggie Lutz scored in the extra session for the Mavericks.
Minnesota State has proven itself adept at winning games when it falls behind, too; the NCAA first-round game against Quinnipiac is the most recent reminder. The Bobcats led 2-0 after one period and 3-1 midway through the third before goals by Smith and Cade Borchardt forced OT. Ryan Sandelin gave the Mavericks their first NCAA Tournament victory in the extra session.
The 4-0 victory against Minnesota in the Loveland regional championship game reinforced how Minnesota State can stifle opponents when it controls puck possession and makes it difficult for opponents to get to the net. The Mavericks played free and agressive, Hastings said.
“As a team I think we slipped a little bit going into the WCHA playoffs,” senior defenseman Riese Zmolek said. “We found that the second period of the Quinnipiac game — just being hard, physical. Just trying to keep playing on that type of game plan.”
Napravnik, Minnesota State’s leading scorer with 27 points, sees the matchup against St. Cloud State’s big defensemen as a key for Thursday’s game.
“Just working them down low and playing behind them will benefit us,” he said. “They’re a pretty good team. They’re fast and a heavy team just like us so it’s going to be a battle.”
Minnesota Duluth players bask in the glory of a goal during NCHC pod play in December (photo: Mark Kuhlmann).
This is the fourth of four team previews for teams playing in the Frozen Four this week in Pittsburgh.
MINNESOTA DULUTH
Season record: 14-10-2
How they got to Pittsburgh: Defeated North Dakota in Northwest regional, 3-2 in five overtimes
Top players: Senior forward Nick Swaney (13-14-27), junior forward Jackson Cates (11-16-27), senior forward Kobe Roth (13-10-23), junior forward Cole Koepke (14-8-22)
Top goalies: Zach Stejskal (8-4-3, 1.75 GAA, .923 SV%, Ryan Fanti (11-7-2, 2.35 GAA, .907 SV%)
Why they will win the national championship: They’ve won the last two national championships, so why not a three-peat?
They have players who are experienced under the pressure, and the last time they played UMass in the Frozen Four was in the 2019 national championship in which they completely shut down the Minutemen offense.
Why they won’t win the national championship: It just gets harder and harder to repeat. Teams are going to play extra tough to try to take down the champ. Also, unlike in past years the Bulldogs have shown themselves to be vulnerable to late tying goals. You can only go to the overtime well so many times before it comes back to bite you.
Asked about a fourth straight appearance in the Frozen Four (and a possible third-straight national championship) and the players for Minnesota Duluth acknowledge both that it’s unusual and special.
“It’s kind of crazy; it’s supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it seems that we just get to keep doing it,” said junior forward Tanner Laderoute. “It kind of puts me at a speechless point that even the tournament itself, there’s 60 teams in Division I hockey, and there’s a lot that don’t even make the tournament, and we’ve built a culture where we would be upset if we didn’t make the tournament, and maybe even upset if we didn’t make the Frozen Four.”
“This has been a really difficult year for everybody, and to have the opportunity to go back there, like I said you never take these opportunities for granted because you never know when they’re going to come again,” said Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin. “It’s exciting again to get the opportunity to go back there, and I know our guys are looking forward to it.”
The Bulldogs advanced to the Frozen Four in unusual fashion. They didn’t play their first-round game, advancing via walkover when Michigan was forced to withdraw due to COVID protocols.
In the regional final, they faced NCHC foe North Dakota, which in addition to being the top seed in the tournament was sort of playing at home, as the regional was held in Fargo, North Dakota. The Bulldogs built a 2-0 lead early in the third period on goals by Jackson Cates and Cole Koepke just 1:20 apart. They held that lead until the final minutes when North Dakota tied it on two goals in a 44-second span at 18:19 and 19:03.
UMD reset, and they thought they had it won when Kobe Roth scored on a two-on-one rush at 7:38 of the first overtime, but the goal was disallowed after an extensive review due to offsides. Playing on, the game was finally decided in the fifth overtime on a goal by freshman Luke Mylymok at 2:13 when he used a UND defender as a partial screen and beat goaltender Adam Scheel five-hole.
Asked about managing the emotions on the bench and keeping an even keel, Sandelin credited his upperclassmen.
“It’s something we’ve talked about a lot,” said Sandelin. “First of all, we have guys who have been through some of those types of games where things don’t always go your way, so I think number one, a lot of it had to do with our older guys being really calm and having a positive attitude. To get the goal disallowed was another situation, the emotions for both teams. We’re elated, they’re deflated, so for both teams to reset it’s not an easy thing. I called them in during the review and said it doesn’t matter what happens. It if goes our way, we can continue to celebrate, if not we’ve got to play, and our guys did a good job with that.
“Those are tough situations.”
Koepke acknowledged that as the game kept going on, players on the bench naturally thought about Roth’s disallowed goal, as he was offsides by perhaps an inch.
“You kind of think about it maybe more during the intermissions when we’re sitting there like, this game it’s still going on,” said Koepke. “Everyone is so tired, and you just think, like you said, one inch and we would have been done. I mean like Tanner mentioned earlier, we have a next-play mentality, and you can’t control the past, you can only control our efforts moving forward. We always talk about having a short memory when things don’t go our way.”
UMD’s unique goaltending situation was also on full display. After the first few weeks of the pod in Omaha, Sandelin has essentially split goaltending duties between sophomore Ryan Fanti and freshman Zach Stejskal, who got the start against North Dakota. However, as the game wore on, Stejskal grew tired and started cramping, and he had to come out of the game in the fourth OT after making 57 saves, putting Fanti under an immediate pressure cooker, one he met head-on, making six saves in earning the win.
“‘States’ played unbelievable that whole North Dakota game, and ‘Fants’ came in and was dialed and ready to go when he had to be,” said Laderoute. “That’s all you can ask from a young guy. I know that it’s hard to stay in the game, especially when it starts to go third overtime, fourth overtime, but Fanti was ready every time he had his name called. You can tell when it starts getting that long, it’s tough on the goalies, they’re playing the whole game. Fants knew that it’s always a possibility.”
UMD’s upperclassmen are veterans at the Frozen Four. Koepke and Laderoute won against UMass in 2019 as freshmen, and senior Nick Swaney, the team’s leading scorer, won as a freshman against Notre Dame and then as a sophomore in 2019.
“It’s pretty tough to put into words,” said Swaney. “We’ve had three shots at it my career, my class, and we’ve got there every single year. It’s pretty special. This year with everything we’ve had to sacrifice and the ups and downs that we’ve had to go through, I think it makes it that much better.”
Koepke and Laderoute are now veterans looking out for the freshmen and sophomores and mentoring them on this road.
“I think it’s really fun to be back,” said Koepke. “It’s something that as a team that we work toward all year. Last time we were there we were freshmen and we really looked to the seniors and juniors that had been there before to kind of guide us and give us a little heads-up of what we might have to expect going forward. Knowing that for us, I think we’re just looking at our freshmen trying to help them as much as we can and try to give little hints and tips on what to expect there.”
Everyone associated with the program knows that the three-peat is something that a lot of people are talking about on social media, but the team is just trying to take it a game at a time and manage their emotions and expectations. They are expecting a fierce game against Massachusetts on Thursday.
“Obviously a really good team,” said Swaney. “Playing anyone in the NCAA tournament this point, everyone’s going to be a really good team. I think watching them, too, kind of their games in the past, they have some really good defensive players and they kind of play that similar style where they’ll get in on you hard and play fast all over the ice. It’s going to be a good game, and obviously looking forward to playing them again.”
Hockey writer Chris Peters from Hockey Sense with Chris Peters joins hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger to preview the 2021 NCAA men’s D-I ice hockey semifinals between Minnesota State and St. Cloud State and between UMass and Minnesota Duluth.
Top goalie: junior Dryden McKay (21-3-0, 1.39 GAA, .931 SV%)
Why they will win the national championship: At this point, they’ve already exorcised one demon. Just winning a game in the NCAA tournament was a big step for the Mavericks, who were previously 0-6 all time in the postseason in their Division I era.
But by beating instate rivals Minnesota — handily — in the regional final was a heck of an encore and a big statement that this team is for real. Maybe most encouraging is that MSU’s goal scorers in the regionals weren’t necessarily their big stars. If they can get that scoring depth to click in Pittsburgh, there’s no reason why they can’t win it all.
Why they will not win the national championship: Last week we mentioned that the Mavs’ slow starts could be their Achilles’ Heel.
It nearly stopped their tourney run before it started. MSU was down 2-0 to Quinnipiac after one period in their first-round game. They did manage to rally and tie the game from down 3-1 with two goals in the third period, but against the stronger teams left in the Frozen Four, it’s going to be a lot harder for the Mavericks to claw back from an early deficit like that.
For the past decade, Minnesota State has largely been regarded as one of the model programs of college hockey. In the past 10 years, they have won six conference championships, three conference tournament titles and appeared in six NCAA tournaments. Four Mavericks have been named All-Americans. They’ve constantly been ranked in the top five in the country.
Before this season, only one thing had eluded them: A NCAA tournament win.
But now that’s in the past. The Mavericks won the NCAA West Regional in Loveland, winning their first tournament game, their first regional championship and their first Frozen Four appearance. Not a bad way to get a few monkeys off your back. MSU rallied to beat Quinnipiac in overtime to win their first game before blanking Minnesota to earn their first Frozen Four berth.
“Obviously we hadn’t won an NCAA game, and to be able to find a way after putting ourselves in the spot that we were in,” MSU head coach Mike Hastings said. “To find a way to get back and get our first win and then put together the game we put together on Sunday to give us the opportunity to be in the Frozen Four was a very big step for our program.”
Another big step for Minnesota State was announced just days after their Frozen Four berth. Junior goaltender Dryden McKay was named one of three Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalists — another first for Minnesota State.
McKay has recorded 10 shutouts this season and won the WCHA goaltending championship this season with a goals against average of 1.07. He’s only the second goaltender in WCHA history to win three consecutive goaltending titles. (The other one was a guy named Tony Esposito.)
“If there’s one word I can throw out with Dryden other than calm and collected, would be ‘consistent,’” Hastings said. “He’s been our most consistent player over the last two years.”
That description, though, can apply to the Mavericks as a team in addition to McKay as an individual. MSU doesn’t have anybody with insane goal scoring numbers, but what they do have are a lot of players with seven, eight and nine goals. They have four 20-point scorers and eight more in double-digits.
Rarely this season has MSU been completely out of a game. They only lost four times the entire season, and the only game in which they looked totally outclassed was in the WCHA semifinal game against Northern Michigan on March 19. NMU won 5-1 in a game that wasn’t that close. McKay was pulled in the second period.
Hastings said losing that game was a wakeup call for his team.
“We lose to Northern Michigan in the semifinals here in our own building, and we weren’t thinking about going to the Frozen Four, we were thinking about picking the pieces up and going back to our game,” Hastings said. “As you saw, even in the weekend in Loveland, it took us a little while to get back there. Quinnipiac jumped on us right away and we had to play from behind. And as the game went on, we found our identity a little bit. Then after the first game we put together a really good game on Sunday.”
Playing against a team like St. Cloud State at the Frozen Four this week will be tricky. The Mavericks and the Huskies know each other well as instate rivals, and Hastings is friendly with St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson. But at the end of the day, for Hastings it will be about doing what the Mavericks do.
“We’ve got an idea of what’s going on in St. Cloud and what they’re doing, but at the end of the day we try and focus on what we’re doing and our preparation,” Hastings said. “We’re going to stay true to what we are that way. We’ll try and make sure we give the guys we give them the information that they need, tendencies and that sort of thing, but at the end of the day we have to go out and play our game.”
The Mavericks will now carry the banner for the WCHA in its final season as a men’s league. MSU’s failures to win a tournament game in the past could have been read by some as an indictment of the league. But this season, the league had the best showing it’s had since realignment.
Aside from MSU’s success, Bemidji State also surprised many with their big win over Wisconsin as a No. 4 seed. Lake Superior State was knocked out in the first round by UMass but were one of the best teams in the conference down the stretch. All three teams will be playing in the CCHA next season.
“I think it opened some people’s eyes to what we do in our league,” Hastings said of the WCHA. “It’s a tough league to play in and we’re showing it right now. Hopefully we can continue to do that not only for the league moving forward but for ourselves as a program.”
Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 Spencer Penrose Award as Division I Men’s Ice Hockey CCM/AHCA Coach of the Year. The honor is the second for Hastings, who also won the award in 2015.
Entering the Frozen Four, Hastings has a career record of 236-89-24. His winning percentage of .711 is the best among all active NCAA Division I men’s head coaches.
Hastings is the fourth men’s hockey coach at Minnesota State following a three-year stint as associate head coach at Omaha. He also served as an assistant coach with the men’s hockey program at Minnesota for one season.
Prior to his college coaching career, Hastings had a 14-year run as head coach of Omaha of the USHL, leaving as the league’s all-time winningest coach having compiled a 529-210-56 record with the Lancers. He was named USHL Coach of the Year three times and as the team’s general manager earned league GM of the Year honors five times.
Hastings was an assistant coach for the U.S. national junior team at the 2003 and 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships and served twice as head coach for the U.S. junior select team that competed in the Viking Cup, earning gold medal honors in 2000.
A 1993 graduate of St. Cloud State, Hastings played two years for the Huskies (1986-87 and 1987-88) before a back injury ended his career.
The runner-up for this year’s Spencer Penrose Award was Greg Carvel of the University of Massachusetts.
Filip Lindberg and Carson Gicewicz will be among four players unavailable for UMass in Thursday’s NCAA Frozen Four national semifinal (photo by Rich Gagnon).
Massachusetts announced Tuesday morning that it will be without forwards Carson Gicewicz and Jerry Harding and goaltenders Filip Lindberg and Henry Graham for Thursday’s NCAA Frozen Four national semifinal due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocols and University of Massachusetts policies.
“I feel for these players who have sacrificed so much over the last year and committed themselves to getting our team to this point,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel in the announcement.
“They have earned the right to compete for a national championship, and to have this unfortunate situation occur now is hard to comprehend. But nevertheless it’s a result that we have to accept, and we will move forward together and utilize the depth of our roster for Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh.”
UMass will take on two-time defending champion Minnesota-Duluth in the national semifinals on Thursday at 9 p.m. in a rematch of the 2019 NCAA championship game, with the winner will advancing to Saturday’s national championship game against either St. Cloud State or Minnesota State.
Greg Carvel hoists the Hockey East playoff trophy after his UMass squad downed UMass Lowell last month in Amherst, Mass. (photo: Rich Gagnon).
Anyone who has listened to Massachusetts coach Greg Carvel over the last few years understands that the 2019 Spencer Penrose winner, given to the national coach of the year, has a plan.
When he came to the Amherst, Mass., campus five years ago, success didn’t play out right away, though no one should be surprised.
Five years later, though, and the ability to recruit the team he wanted, Carvel has put in place the personnel and the system he wants. The result is reaching back-to-back Frozen Fours for a program that previously had qualified for just a single NCAA tournament.
“I’m pretty sure anyone would be surprised [to be in two straight Frozen Fours] just given how tough our conference is and where the program stood when we got here,” said Carvel. “We’ve brought in some real high-level players but more importantly some high-level people.
“I just came here with a vision. I’m old enough and had enough experience at different levels of hockey to know how programs should be run. It’s not just about how good your players are. It’s about how strong your culture is and how committed your players are to playing the game the right way.”
Carvel says that his team, and most importantly his coaching staff that includes two of the nation’s top assistants in Ben Barr and Jared DeMichiel, has executed well on that plan.
Often overlooked, though, is the plan before the plan.
When Carvel was hired, athletic director Ryan Bamford, a young, up-and-coming administrator, was a fresh face on the UMass campus. He arrived in March of 2015 and then watched his hockey program skate to an uncompetitive 8-24-4 in the 2015-16 season, leading Bamford to terminate coach John Micheletto after four seasons.
Micheletto was hired in 2012 to replace long-time head coach Don ‘Toot’ Cahoon, who had guided the Minutemen for 12 seasons, including an appearance in the Hockey East title game and an NCAA regional final.
But replacing Cahoon was a nightmare for UMass.
Micheletto was not the first choice of then athletic director John McCutcheon. Multiple coaches were reported as turning down the job when offered including Quinnipiac’s Rand Pecknold, as well as Paul Pearl, now an associate head coach at Boston University. Mike Cavanaugh, then associated head coach at Boston College and now head coach at Connecticut, was also in the mix.
When Bamford began the search for a replacement, he took a very different approach.
Instead of using a large committee to select the next head coach, Bamford sought advice from many but made the decision himself.
“I felt like when I got to UMass in 2015, we’re in such a good league and Massachusetts is such a good hockey state, I’d watched what [UMass Lowell coach] Norm [Bazin] and Lowell had done, my vision was to try and build what they had been able to accomplish,” Bamford said.
“I said we need to get back to a competitive level.”
What Bamford learned in that process, as well as in one of his previous role at Yale where he helped bring in Keith Allain, who led the Bulldogs to the 2013 national title, was that as much as it takes a great coach who can recruit the best players who can win games with skill, it wasn’t all about what happens between the boards.
“All the off the ice stuff, I thought, was really important,” Bamford said. “The accountability, the team dynamics, brings the right young men into our program and into the university. [Greg Carvel] has exceeded anything I could’ve imagined in terms of that.”
When the head coaching opportunity came open position came open, it was one of the first two high-profile positions Bamford had to fill at UMass (women’s basketball was the other). He put significant energy into both, but also understood that the payoff of hockey could be quick.
“I think it my first year, I really dove in on hockey to say, ‘What has worked at other places, where do I think we fit and what’s our vision?’” said Bamford. “[The last question] was what is the investment. I don’t think there had ever been a real deep discussion about how we wanted to invest in hockey.
“I said, ‘We’re going to increase our coaching salaries, we’re going to increase our recruiting and travel budgets.”
Bamford made it clear the upgrade were coming and worked with Carvel to make multiple facility projects a priority, including what will be a $2 million investment this offseason to bring the UMass locker room and training facilities in hockey up to a standard that makes them competitive nationally.
Now, after just five short seasons, UMass could be on the precipice of a level of greatness few could’ve imagined such a short time ago. The Minutemen won the regular season Hockey East title in 2019, captured the postseason tournament this year with a 1-0 victory over sister school UMass Lowell last month.
And now, the Minutemen, arguably playing as great hockey as anyone in the Frozen Four field, stand two wins away from a national title. That gives Bamford and so many associated with the program, a sense of great pride.
“I feel so good for our kids and our coaches,” said Bamford. “I thought we had a legitimate shot last year prior to COVID. So to do it in a year where there’s not as much high-end talent, to do it in a year like this, I’m just so proud of our program, our kids.”
Elmira celebrates capturing the UCHC title for the first time (Photo Courtesy of Stevenson Athletics)
Congratulations to the Elmira Soaring Eagles!! Elmira took out the two top seeds to earn their first ever UCHC title. We are talking playoffs and a championship won in the UCHC as the 2020-21 season champion was decided on Easter Monday. It was a great playoff week and there were a few other easter eggs to be spotted on the action that has continued into April. Here is a recap of all the week’s sensational playoff action:
UCHC
Quarterfinals
Manhattanville (8) @ Utica (1)
After a scoreless first period, the Pioneers got the offense going scoring nine goals over the final 40 minutes to post the 9-0 win over Manhattanville. Dylan McMahon, John Moncovich and Conor Landrigan each scored two goals and Chris Dickson made 12 saves to earn the shutout. Dickson earned his fourth shutout in six starts this season and now holds the single season record at Utica.
Neumann (7) v. Stevenson (2)
On Thursday the last of the quarterfinals took place with the Mustangs facing a Knights team they had defeated twice during the regular season. The Knights seemed to put the losses behind them as Evan Hoey gave the visitors a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. Blake Colman evened the score at 1-1 with a power play goal for Stevenson setting up a winner-take-all third period. Anthony Starzi scored early in the third and Austin Master scored late for a 3-1 Stevenson lead. Clay Boyd cut the deficit to one with just over a minute left, but Ryan Kenny preserved the lead for the 3-2 win.
Nazareth (6) @ Wilkes (3)
Despite being outshot by a 47-24 margin, Nazareth gave Wilkes all they could handle in a 3-2 overtime loss on Wednesday. Mateo Capriotti and Ray Falso gave the visitors one goal leads in each of the first two periods and goaltender Raphael Provencher was outstanding making 34 saves heading into the third period. Tyler Dill tied the game at 2-2 with a power play goal in the third period and Tyler Barrow delivered the overtime winner for Wilkes at 9:16 of the extra session.
Chatham (5) @ Elmira (4)
Jordan Gonzalez, Ryan Reifler and Shawn Kennedy combined for four goals and nine points in a 6-0 win over the Cougars on Wednesday. Gonzalez got Elmira on the board with just four seconds remaining and the hosts added two more goals in the second period and three in the third. Goaltender Chris Janzen stopped all 31 shots he faced to earn the shutout.
Semifinals
Elmira (4) @ Utica (1)
The game was simply epic as it took three overtime periods to determine a winner. Despite being outshot by a 63-41 margin, the visitors from Elmira pulled off the stunning upset of the top-seeded Utica Pioneers to advance to the UCHC title game with a 2-1 win. Chance Gorman gave the visitors a first period lead and Brett Everson responded for the Pioneers in the second period for a 1-1 tie that would last a long time. Goaltender Chris Janzen was stellar in making 62 saves while Elmira-native Bailey Krawczyk finally broke the 1-1- tie 5:46 into the third overtime period.
Wilkes (3) @ Stevenson (2)
Friday saw a strong push by Wilkes offset by a determined Stevenson squad that scored three unanswered goals in the final 27 minutes to advance the UCHC title game with a 4-1 win. After Mac Lowry and Donald Flynn exchanged goals in the first period, Wilkes came out hard in the second period outshooting the Mustangs by an 11-5 margin. Ryan Kenny was solid in goal to hold the Colonels off the scoreboard while Blake Colman scored what proved to be the game winner on the power play late in the period. Austin Master and Chad Watt closed out the scoring for the final margin
Championship Game
Elmira (4) @ Stevenson (2)
Krawczyk and his teammates clearly don’t mind being the underdog as they scored on the power play in the first to take a 1-0 lead less than four minutes after the opening draw. Shawn Kennedy extended the lead to 2-0 in the second period while goaltender Chris Janzen held the Mustangs off the scoreboard with 23 saves through 40 minutes. Elmira controlled play in the third period holding the Mustangs to just six shots on goal. Again, it was Krawczyk who put the game away for Elmira scoring a shorthanded, empty-net goal with under three minutes remining in regulation to seal the win and the title. Janzen, the tournament’s MVP, finished the night with 29 saves and the shutout win.
Three Biscuits
Tyler Barrow – Wilkes – scored the overtime winning goal against Nazareth as Wilkes had to rally from one-goal deficits twice to advance in the UCHC tournament
Chris Dickson – Utica – made 12 saves against Manhattanville in a 9-0 quarterfinal Pioneer win. The shutout extended Dickson’s scoreless streak to over 195 minutes and broke the single season record for shutouts at Utica.
Chris Janzen – Elmira – stopped 62 of 63 shots to backstop Elmira to a 2-1 triple overtime win over Utica in the UCHC semifinals and stopped all 29 shots he faced in picking the 3-0 shutout win in the title game earning tournament MVP honors.
Bonus Biscuit
Bailey Krawczyk – Elmira – scored the triple overtime game winner against Utica and then helped the Soaring Eagles to the win in the title game at Stevenson with two goals.
There will be just a few more games among non-conference opponents coming up over the next week or two, but most schools need to make way for the spring sports and start thinking about the fall and the excitement for a full and complete 2021-22 season compels.
Phoenix native Johnny Walker is Arizona State’s all-time leading point producer and figures to add to his totals as a fifth-year senior in 2021-22 (photo: Michigan Photography).
According to Red Line Editorial, Arizona State forward Johnny Walker will be back for a fifth season in 2021-22, using the NCAA’s option for 2021 seniors to gain an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic.
“It was kind of a no-brainer,” he said, adding that 2020-21 felt “pretty empty.”
During the 2020-21 season, the Phoenix native went for four goals and 14 points in 16 games.
Walker broke the program record for most career points Feb. 26 with his 108th, assisting on redshirt junior Chris Grando’s goal in the third period during a 4-1 loss at Michigan.
Overall, Walker has totaled 64 goals and 46 assists for 110 points in 116 games in Tempe.
Junior defenseman Nate Clurman served as Notre Dame’s captain for the 2020-21 season (photo: Notre Dame Athletics).
Notre Dame junior defenseman Nate Clurman has signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Colorado Avalanche, giving up his senior season with the Fighting Irish.
Clurman, a Boulder, Colo., native, was originally selected by Colorado in the sixth round (161st overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft.
He will report to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
Notre Dame’s team captain this past season as a junior, Clurman skated in 27 games in 2020-21, scoring a career-high four goals and adding three assists for seven points.
Clurman played in 103 career games over three seasons, scoring four goals and adding 15 assists for 19 points.
David Berard spent seven seasons behind the Holy Cross bench, guiding the Crusaders from 2014 to 2021 (photo: Holy Cross Athletics).
Holy Cross coach David Berard has resigned, effective immediately, to pursue new opportunities, according to a news release.
Berard, who took over the program in June 2014, led the Crusaders to an 84-116-34 mark in his tenure.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to be the head coach at Holy Cross for the past seven seasons,” Berard said in a statement. “It has been a truly amazing experience, and I want to thank (assistant coaches) Peter Roundy and Max Mobley, as well as past members of the coaching staff, for their professionalism, commitment and loyalty to the program. I would also like to thank (director of athletics) Marcus Blossom and all the administration and staff I have worked with throughout the years for their time, effort and expertise in caring for our players and program.
“Most importantly, I want to thank our current and former players for their trust and belief in our vision, and the pride they showed in representing Holy Cross. Being your coach and building relationships with you is what I will always cherish.”
Under Berard’s tutelage, Holy Cross has achieved well-rounded success, seeing 114 Crusaders named Atlantic Hockey Academic All-Stars and 12 tapped as AHCA All-American Scholars, while 17 have gone on to continue their careers in the professional ranks.
“I’d like to thank David for his seven years of dedication to Holy Cross,” Blossom said. “Coach Berard has been a great teammate during his time here, and, most importantly, he was extremely committed to the academic, athletic and personal development of every student-athlete he recruited and coached. I wish David all the best in his next chapter.”
A national search for the next coach will begin immediately.
St. Cloud State’s Kevin Fitzgerald (28) and Jami Krannila (13) celebrate a goal during the 2020-21 season (photo: Russell Hons).
This is the second of four team previews for the teams that have reached the Frozen Four this week in Pittsburgh.
ST. CLOUD STATE
Season record: 16-9-0
How they got to Pittsburgh: Beat Boston University 6-2, beat Boston College 4-1 in the Northeast regional
Top players: Freshman forward Veeti Miettinen (11-13-24), sophomore forward Jami Krannila (11-12-23), junior defenseman Nick Perbix (7-16-23), sophomore forward Zach Okabe (6-15-21)
Top goalie: Dávid Hrenák (16-9, 2.50 GAA, .910 SV%)
Why they will win the national championship: St. Cloud has just about been scoring for fun lately. The Huskies scored a combined 10 goals in Albany against two Hockey East powers, and SCSU hasn’t been limited to under two goals scored in a game in over a month.
Why they will not win the national championship: Senior forward Easton Brodzinski (8-5-13) is out with a broken right femur suffered in the Northeast regional final, and the Huskies will miss his presence enormously.
Although this is a NCAA tournament where none of the four regionals’ top-seeded teams made it to the Frozen Four, St. Cloud State is perhaps playing with as much proverbial house money as any team left in the field.
The Huskies found themselves in the “others receiving votes” column in USCHO’s preseason poll, and they were listed fourth in the NCHC’s own preseason media poll. Forget all that, because SCSU sure as heck did. The Huskies reached the NCHC playoff final and then won the Northeast Regional, beating Boston University and Boston College by a combined score of 10-3.
SCSU will show a different look in Pittsburgh with Brodzinski out injured. Seven more seniors will have a big say, though, on how their team fares in its first Frozen Four appearance since 2013, and just the team’s second all-time.
“Obviously it’s been our goal from the start of the year,” third-year coach Brett Larson said of SCSU’s run to Pittsburgh. “We were a team that, at the beginning of the year, wasn’t picked to be in the top 20, and we had a goal for ourselves to finish in the top half of our league and make a run in our league tournament and make the NCAA tournament and eventually make the Frozen Four.
“I think, right now, they feel like they’ve accomplished a few of their goals, and they’re hungry to accomplish another one.”
The Huskies will have plenty of motivation still, and not just from the national championship trophy. They’ll also be playing for Brodzinski, an All-Region selection this season who had 55 goals and 98 points in 140 career college games.
“He’s incredibly disappointed,” Larson said of Brodzinski’s injury. “He’s a guy that has put his heart and soul into this program for four years. His name is synonymous with the program, obviously, and all of the hard work he’s put in, and now he can’t go be a part of this, it’s really tough on him.
“He just wants this so bad for this team and this program, and that’s tough. On the other hand, our guys, I think from the moment he went down, used it as kind of a rallying cry. We all know we need to bring a little bit more when we lose somebody like that, so I think that’s the feeling in the room right now: we want to do it from Easton.”
And they have been. Brodzinski left the Northeast Regional final about a minute into the second period after receiving a clean hit in Boston College’s zone. SCSU was down 1-0 at the time, but goals later in that period from Luke Jaycox, Will Hammer and Nolan Walker turned the game on its head. Micah Miller put a bow on the come-from-behind win with an empty-netter in the game’s final minute.
Brodzinski, Jaycox, Walker, Perbix and Hrenák all earned All-Regional honors. Hrenák was named the most outstanding player of the tournament, beating out BC goalie and Mike Richter Award finalist Spencer Knight.
Speaking of awards, Larson is up for the Spencer Penrose Award, given to the NCAA men’s hockey Division I coach of the year, for the second time in his three seasons behind SCSU’s bench. He also knows a thing or 20 about what it takes to put together a national championship-caliber squad. Minnesota Duluth won NCAA titles in 2011 and 2018 with Larson on the staff at his alma mater,
This season’s SCSU team is on a mission, but it’s also a program that has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. The Huskies were the No. 1 national seed in the 2019 NCAA tournament, fell at the first hurdle against American International and then went 13-15-6 last season.
It’s not hard to see why SCSU was unfancied by many outsiders heading into this season, but those lowered expectations and pain from two years ago are now specks in the Huskies’ rear-view mirror.
“I answered this question a lot going into (last) week, and to be honest, it almost frustrated me because I felt like this is a new team, and I use COVID as an example,” Larson said. “With no playoff last year, and being almost two years removed, it felt fresh, it felt new. The team wasn’t looking back, they weren’t looking ahead, and I think part of that might be COVID because, with COVID, you can only count on the day you’re in.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen the next day, so the past doesn’t really matter so much, the future doesn’t really matter so much, and this team always just felt like a very fresh, new mentality of being thankful for the day we have and making the most of it. I think that’s the attitude we’re going to continue here with.”
Matthew Galajda put up splendid numbers in three seasons at Cornell (photo: Cornell Athletics).
Notre Dame announced Monday the addition of graduate transfer goaltender Matthew Galajda for the 2021-22 season.
The 2018 First Team All-American played his first three seasons at Cornell.
“We’re excited to add Matthew to our program,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said in a statement. “He has a very impressive resume both academically and athletically from his career at Cornell and not only is he a great goaltender but also a tremendous young man. He’s a great fit for Notre Dame and for our team culture.”
For his career, Galajda boasts a 60-15-9 record to go along with a 1.64 GAA and a .930 save percentage.
The Aurora, Ontario, native put together a strong junior campaign in 2019-20, posting a 23-2-4 record for the Big Red to go along with a .931 save percentage and a 1.56 GAA. He was a finalist for the Mike Richter Award and posted five shutouts on the season.
When the COVID-19 pandemic halted the season, Galajda and the Big Red were ranked first in the USCHO.com poll.
The WCHA announced Monday that conference supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd has been voted unanimously by the league’s 10 teams as the 2021 recipient of the Otto Breitenbach Distinguished Service Award.
“The WCHA was and always will be the best league in college hockey and I am truly honored and humbled to receive this award,” Shepherd said in a statement. “I owe a lot to Dewey Markus and to Ron Foyt, both of whom made me a better referee. Thanks goes to Bruce McLeod who took a chance and named me supervisor when he became our commissioner. I was blessed to work with Bruce, Carol LaBelle, Doug Spencer and my friend forever, Jeff Sauer. Bill Robertson took over for Bruce and trusted me to continue as supervisor. I’m thankful to work with him, Dean Thibodeau, Todd Bell and our women’s commissioner, Jennifer Flowers. I’m also grateful my sons Derek and Brad followed me into officiating and did such a great job working in the WCHA during their careers.
“Lastly, I want to thank my wife, Nancy, who stuck with me all those years I was on the road. An official’s life is full of travel and weekends away and that is never easy on our families and spouses. I’m proud to have served the WCHA for 42 years.”
One of the most respected and experienced officials and supervisors in college hockey, Shepherd finished his 42nd season with the WCHA – and 29th as supervisor of officials – in 2020-21. The longest-tenured officials’ supervisor in college hockey, Shepherd began in the role with the WCHA men’s league in 1992 and has served in the same capacity for the WCHA women’s league since its inception in 1999.
“Greg Shepherd exemplifies all the traits that constitute awarding him the prestigious the Otto Breitenbach Award,” Robertson said. “His 42 years of service as a referee and supervisor shows his love for the WCHA and his devotion to college hockey. No one cares more about this great league than ‘Shep.’ He embodies what is great about the college game. It has truly been a privilege to work with and learn from him during my time as commissioner.”
Shepherd is responsible for identifying, training, developing and sustaining the WCHA officiating staff. Under his tutelage, several men’s and women’s officials have received prominent postseason assignments, including his sons Derek and Brad, each of whom have worked NCAA Frozen Fours. Derek is currently an officials supervisor with the NCHC.
“Greg is one of the most experienced and respected officials in college hockey, both on the ice and off as a referee and as a supervisor,” said McLeod. “Working 10 NCAA Frozen Fours in 14 years on the ice is an acknowledgement of that. He formalized the recruitment and training of officials for the WCHA, many of whom followed in his footsteps and worked innumerable NCAA postseason events. Greg has been a tremendous and fiercely loyal promoter of the WCHA and his enthusiasm for his craft is second to none. His counsel is often requested by other conferences regarding supervisory questions and the respect for him nationwide is a testament to hard work and dedication. I am proud to call him a friend and very much appreciate his great work for the WCHA.”
Shepherd’s commitment to hockey has spanned more than 40 years and six decades on and off the ice. After beginning as a youth hockey official, he worked his way up to the collegiate level and debuted with the WCHA in 1978. Shepherd spent 14 years as an on-ice official with the league, working in 10 Frozen Fours during that time.
A veteran, Shepherd served in the United States Navy from 1967-69. He also worked for Northern States Power Company for 35 years, while serving his community on the West Saint Paul City Council for four years.
Shepherd and his wife, Nancy, who will celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, are parents to three children (Derek, Tiffany and Brad) and are proud grandparents to Austyn, Madison, Cameron, Lauren, Gabby, Anthony, Joe and Ryan.
The Breitenbach Award is presented by the WCHA’s 10 member institutions to individuals who have rendered extraordinary service to the Association. Shepherd is the 42nd recipient of the award, the first officials supervisor and third referee to be honored, joining Bob Gilray and Butch Mosseau.
Breitenbach served as the WCHA’s second commissioner from 1983 to 1994, an era that saw the league produce three national championships (North Dakota – 1987, Wisconsin – 1990 and Northern Michigan – 1991) and five Hobey Baker winners. Breitenbach oversaw the return of Michigan Tech to the WCHA along with the addition of Northern Michigan, St. Cloud State and Alaska Anchorage. He was also instrumental in the development of the WCHA Final Five postseason tournament.
Zac Jones has been steady all season on the UMass back end (photo: Rich Gagnon)
This is the first of four team previews for the teams that have reached the Frozen Four this week in Pittsburgh.
MASSACHUSETTS
Season record: 18-5-4 (13-5-4 Hockey East)
How they got to Pittsburgh: Defeated Lake Superior State 5-1, defeated Bemidji State 4-0 in East Regional
Top players: Forwards Bobby Trivigno (10-21-31), Garrett Wait (8-8-16) and Carson Gicewicz (17-7-24) – unavailable due to COVID protocols; and defensemen Zac Jones (8-15-23) and Matt Kessel (9-12-21)
Top goalie: Filip Lindberg (9-1-4, 1.33 GAA, .946 SV%) – unavailable due to COVID protocols; Matt Murray (9-4-0, 2.01 GAA, .913 SV%)
Why they will win the national championship: This is as complete a team as UMass has ever had.
Sure, they reached a Frozen Four two years ago with brand name players like Cale Makar and Mario Ferraro, but this team might be a deeper all-around club. Their defense has become one of the best in the nation allowing just 1.70 goals per game (second behind Minnesota State). And unlike many other teams, they can match the intensity and heavy play of the other three teams in Pittsburgh.
Why they will not win the national championship: The UMass offense has been cranking of late, particularly in the regional. But should they meet a defense that slows them down like UMass Lowell did in the Hockey East title game, then the outcome can become a bounce of the puck. This isn’t a team that will get blown out of a building (only bad loss this season was a 6-3 defeat versus Boston College early in the season), but if the game stays close, you never know. Edit: Add in the loss of both Gicewicz and Lindberg due to COVID protocols, and this team becomes more vulnerable.
Two years ago, when UMass reached the Frozen Four, and subsequently the national title game, for the first time in program history, coach Greg Carvel admits his team wasn’t fully prepared for the moment.
“[Two years ago], we played in overtime until after midnight [in the semifinals] against Denver,” Carvel said. “The next day, the itinerary had us up and going. We were a tired team going into that championship game.”
Carvel says that, not taking anything in this year’s semifinals for granted, if they are able to move on he’s going to make recovery on the off day a priority. That’s just part of what he feels is the positive experience that he took from his team’s loss to Minnesota Duluth in 2019.
“I think we’re all ready to go in there with some experience,” Carvel said. “The last time it was all eyes wide open, go where we were told. Now we have the experience of how it goes, how it is run and important it is that your players get the proper rest and preparation.
“The experience, we think will be very helpful this time.”
The Minutemen can prove that they’ve learned from the past right away as Thursday’s second semifinal pits UMass against the same team that ended their historic run two years ago, Minnesota Duluth.
“Last time we played Duluth, it wasn’t close,” Carvel said. “They shut the door on us; they beat us 3-0. I expect we’ll have an equally tough time.”
This team is considerably different from 2019. First off, they are missing maybe the biggest component, Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar as well as another standout blueliner, Mario Ferraro. But the defensive position is hardly empty and, if anything, this club is most stingy.
The backend is led by two talented goaltenders, though Filip Lindberg has taken the reins of the club for much of the last two months. After missing games with injuries early, allowing Matt Murray to carry the water between the pipes, Lindberg played so well upon returning, Carvel couldn’t keep him out of net. (Edit: Lindberg will not play in the Frozen Four due to COVID protocols. Murray will be the starting goaltender).
“This summer, [Filip] came to me and said, ‘I need to play more,’” Carvel recalled. “I got angry and said, ‘Be better.’ I said that to both of the goaltenders. Matt made it easy early in the year; he won seven games in a row. The Filip came back, and he’s gone 12 games without a loss.
“I told him, ‘You want to play every game, go out and get a .940 save percentage be under two goals a game. That’s what he did, so now he plays every game.”
Carvel recognizes that everything isn’t built around goaltending. The backend for UMass has become elite at limiting chances. When the opportunities present, both the blueliners and a talent crop of forwards can put the puck in the net.
“You don’t win if you’re not a good defensive hockey team,” said Carvel. “It’s impressive of the defensemen we have. When you have Zac Jones and Marc Del Gaizo and Aaron Bollinger, kids who are really good offensive defensemen who are committed to playing strong defense. Then you have Matt Kessel and Colin Fields who are big, strong, hard defensemen. But they’re all good two-way players.
“We’re not a super skilled team. The kids are just committed to playing what I think is the right way. Limiting teams, frustrating teams and being opportunistic. We don’t sit back. We play the game hard going forward but hard coming back. We’ve done a good job down the stretch here refining it.”
St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth battle in a game during the 2020-21 season (photo: Dave Harwig).
Minnesota has called itself the state of hockey for years now, but even someone who rolls their eyes at the saying would have to admit that it rang true in college hockey this season.
What else would you call a state that put all five Division I programs into the 16-team postseason tournament and will make up 75 percent of the Frozen Four?
“You’re talking to a guy that the reason I’m maybe standing here after a long NHL career and two Olympic teams, or whatever you want to say, I’m here because Herb Brooks came back to Minnesota after coaching in the NHL and obviously winning the gold medal in the 1980 Olympic team and said, ‘You know what, there’s just not enough Division I opportunities in Minnesota for Minnesota kids,’” former St. Cloud State defenseman Bret Hedican said. “For him to come back and start this wave, an opportunity for Minnesota kids to have move Division I opportunities, at St. Cloud, you’re looking at the fruits of his labor. He’s got to be smiling right now looking down at three of the top four teams in the finals and five of the 16.”
St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth will play in the Frozen Four on Thursday. It’s the second time one state has sent three teams after Michigan did it in 1992.
It’s the first trip to the Frozen Four for the Mavericks, who earned their way by beating Minnesota 4-0 a day after picking up the program’s first NCAA Tournament win. The weekend was fun to watch for Ryan Carter, who skated for Minnesota State for two seasons from 2004-06 before moving onto the NHL.
“I think the resiliency of the club is something that’s special,” Carter said about the Mavericks. “The words togetherness, teamwork, do this as a group, sometimes that gets thrown around a little too loosely but, if you look at this team, they truly are a group that’s come together. (Mike) Hastings, too, for a long time he’s been great at developing leadership and the right culture in that program.”
Carter didn’t play for Hastings but said that the Mavericks’ bench boss has been impressive during his spell at the university and that postseason success was bound to happen.
“I’ve been very impressed with how he’s incorporated alumni and tried to, not only create a good culture inside that locker room for their program, but for everybody,” he said. “I hear that he’s a fantastic motivator. He hasn’t had to motivate me to play hockey, but I get excited listening to him. You can see his passion, for hockey, for winning, but, most importantly, for his student athletes.”
Hastings is far from the only lauded head coach from the state heading to Pittsburgh. When Alex Stalock arrived on campus at Minnesota Duluth, the Bulldogs were coming off their third Frozen Four in program history, but the first of the new millennium. Scott Sandelin didn’t have three national titles to his name like he does now, but success was on the horizon.
The Bulldogs are now in their fourth straight Frozen Four and are seeking their third straight title.
“Not only players, but coaches go through ups and downs, too, right?” Stalock said. “He got a group there in 2004 and he saw that it took and what type of team it takes to get there, not only on the ice but off the ice.
“It takes a mix of a lot of different skill at that level to be successful. He’s done a great job of recruiting not only high-end top end guys that leave the program after a year or two but also guys that are huge factors and stay three or four years.”
Head coaches don’t usually work on the X’s and O’s with goaltenders, but the South Saint Paul, Minn., native took something from Sandelin that had nothing specific to do with his position.
“He wanted you to work, that was it, go in and work your butt off,” Stalock said. “Everything’s going to work out that way.”
Stalock, who left Duluth in 2009 after three seasons to sign with the San Jose Sharks organization, said that all the alumni have reveled in the recent success of the program.
“It’s fun to see and I know from going back for some of the golf tournaments in the summer that anyone that shows up there, all the Bulldog alumni, they wear the Bulldog with a ton of pride right now and the program’s probably the strongest it’s ever been,” he said.
St. Cloud State finds itself in the second Frozen Four in program history. It’s the first for head coach Brett Larson, who took over the reins in 2018. To intertwine things even further, Larson was a longtime assistant under Sandelin at Duluth before heading West.
“I can’t even tell you how proud I am of Brett Larson and just the team in general of what they’ve done this season,” Hedican said.
The Huskies, who were dominant against Boston University and Boston College last weekend at their regional, will face the Mavericks on Thursday. The Bulldogs facing off against the one non-Minnesota team, Massachusetts, will follow.
Hedican, who played for St. Cloud State for the 1990-91 season, enjoyed a solid 20-year NHL career. He currently resides in California and is a part of the San Jose Sharks broadcast, but the Huskies are still a large part of his life.
Minnesota State players celebrate a goal against Bowling Green during the 2020-21 season (photo: David Faulkner/SPX Sports).
“I just graduated college in December, during the pandemic,” he said. “I decided to finish up my degree and ended up getting a Bachelor of Elective Studies and a Minor in Mass Communications. Matter of fact, my minor just went through last week. My relationship with St. Cloud has always been close, I’ve always been part of the alumni and reaching out to players and letting them know how important they are.”
Not lost in three Minnesota teams making the Frozen Four is that none of them hail from Minneapolis. Both Stalock and Carter stopped short of dancing on the Gophers’ grave, Carter’s current jobs as color commentator for the Minnesota Wild on Bally Sports North and as a digital content producer for Wild.com do require him to appease to a statewide audience after all, but both were proud of what the state schools have accomplished.
“I grew up wanting to be a Gopher and then I grew to always want to beat the Gophers because they were the measuring stick for a long time,” Carter said. “I still think that they’re a marquee program and a program that everyone wants to play at. That said, you have to give respect to the other state schools around.
“It’d be great if it was four Minnesota schools, and I’d welcome the Gophers in, I’ve gotten over my desires to beat them, but it’s fantastic for the state schools to get that respect.”
Stalock said there probably wasn’t many tears shed for the Gophers up North but added that the more exciting aspect was Mankato breaking through and not Minnesota losing.
“When you’re up in the 218 area code, it does put a little smile on your face that the Gophers aren’t the ones moving on,” he said. “I have relationships with the players and staff down at Mankato, I was excited to see them not only get their first tournament victory but move on. It’s a team that’s been knocking on the door for years to make that next step, and they did. Now is it going to be a situation where they go on a run now?”
Hedican, who played during an era where three teams from Minnesota advancing and one not being the Gophers would have been borderline unthinkable, gave credit the hires that the schools have made over the years. He also noted that there were multiple ties to St. Cloud.
“It says a lot about the people they’ve elected to coach,” he said. “Mike Hastings at Mankato, (Tom) Serratore who spent a lot of time at St. Cloud, Hastings was a St. Cloud Huskies. Brett Larson learned a lot at Duluth how to win, and now he’s at St. Cloud. You’re seeing these Minnesota coaches all, really, under the umbrella of St. Cloud State which, for me, also really speaks to the culture that I’m really proud of at St. Cloud.”
Sampo Ranta played in 102 games over three seasons for Minnesota (photo: Ben Ludeman).
The Colorado Avalanche announced Saturday that the team has signed Minnesota junior forward Sampo Ranta to a three-year, entry-level contract.
He will report to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
In signing, Ranta gives up his senior season.
In 2020-21, Ranta posted a career-best 31 points in 31 games while also establishing career highs in goals (19) and assists (12). His 19 tallies ranked second in the nation while he led the Gophers in goals, points and finished second in power-play goals (3). Ranta’s +19 rating and four game-winning markers were both tied for second on the team.
The Naantali, Finland, native was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and was a Big Ten All-Tournament Team selection and finished with 67 points (37 goals, 30 assists) and a plus-27 rating in 102 career games with the Gophers.
Originally selected by the Avalanche in the third round (78th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft, Ranta was part of the Finland’s gold-medal entry at the 2018 IIHF Under-18 World Championship, notching two points (goal, assist) in seven games. He helped his country to a fourth-place finish at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship, recording two assists in seven games.
Yan Kuznetsov played in all 34 games during his freshman season at UConn and finished the year with 11 points coming on two goals and nine assists from the back end (photo: Stephen Slade/UConn Athletics).
UConn defenseman Yan Kuznetsov has signed a three-year entry level contract with the NHL’s Calgary Flames, forgoing his final two years of eligibility with the Huskies.
Kuznetsov was a second-round pick (50th overall) by the Flames in the 2020 NHL Draft. The the youngest player in the NCAA as a freshman in 2019-20, Kuznetsov was the fourth highest draft pick in UConn program history.
In his two seasons in Storrs, Kuznetsov played in 50 games and totaled 17 points on three goals and 14 assists.
During the 2020-21 season, he had six points (goal, five assists) in 16 games and finished plus-5 for the year.
As well, Kuznetsov and classmate Vladislav Firstov, Kuznetsov became the first NCAA players to earn a spot on Team Russia for the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Minnesota goalie Jack LaFontaine helped the Gophers win the Big Ten tournament title this season (photo: Jim Rosvold).
Minnesota goalie Jack LaFontaine has informed the Gophers that he will return for a third year with the program and fifth overall collegiate campaign in 2021-22.
“I love it here at the University of Minnesota, I love my teammates and I love the culture we are building,” LaFontaine said in a news release. “I have some unfinished business, and this team has unfinished business, so we are excited to get back to work and see this journey through.”
LaFontaine emerged as one of the top college players in the nation this season – currently standing as one of three remaining finalists for the Mike Richter Award, a candidate for All-America honors and one of three Gophers in the running for the Senior CLASS Award. The alternate captain was also the 16th Gopher and third Minnesota goaltender to be named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award this season while also being named the Big Ten goaltender of the year, a first team All-Big Ten selection and most outstanding player of the Big Ten tournament.
“Jack has been a No. 1 goalie for a year and a half, and his growth has been excellent,” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said. “Another year of strength, maturity and game time will be an incredible advantage in his career. He is an outstanding teammate and leader for this program, and we are so fortunate he is a Gopher.”
The 2020-21 season saw LaFontaine set new school records for single-season save percentage (.934) and single-season GAA (1.79) while his five shutouts this year rank tied for third all-time in one season at Minnesota. Among regular goaltenders in college hockey this year, the senior currently ranks first in wins (22-7-0), tied for first in save percentage, tied for second in shutouts, third in saves (717) and fourth in goals against average.
In 16 games against nationally ranked opponents this season, LaFontaine boasted an 11-5-0 record and helped the Gophers to the 2021 Big Ten tournament title and a No. 1 seed in the 2021 NCAA tournament – backstopping Minnesota to its 38th NCAA tournament berth (tied with Michigan for most in college hockey), its first appearance in the national tournament since 2017 and its first NCAA tournament win since 2014.
A two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, LaFontaine helped Minnesota set a new program record with a 3.35 cumulative GPA as a team in the fall of 2020, while the men’s hockey team recorded a term GPA of 3.46, which ranks second in program history after last spring’s 3.64.
The Carolina Hurricanes selected LaFontaine in the third round (75th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft.
